Find out how popular the last name Dowling is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Dowling.

Dowling, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Dowling surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Dowling in America

Dowling is the 2245th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Dowling surname appeared 16,238 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 6 people would have the surname Dowling.

We can also compare 2010 data for Dowling to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Dowling

The surname Dowling originates from Ireland and can be traced back to the 12th century. It is an Anglicized form of the Old Gaelic name "O'Dubhlachna," meaning "descendant of the dark hero." The name likely originated in County Tipperary and surrounding areas.

The earliest recorded instances of the name Dowling appear in the Annals of Inisfallen, a chronicle of medieval Irish history compiled at the monastery on Inisfallen Island in County Kerry. These annals mention several individuals with variations of the name, such as "Dubhlachna" and "O'Dubhlachna," in entries dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries.

In the 16th century, during the Tudor conquest of Ireland, the name was Anglicized to various spellings like "Dowling," "Dowlyn," and "Dolin." These spellings appear in the Fiants of the Tudor Sovereign, a record of official letters and documents from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

Notable figures throughout history with the surname Dowling include Sir John Dowling (1591-1662), an Irish lawyer and judge who served as Lord Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer; James Dowling (1787-1844), an Irish-born Australian novelist and playwright; and Thomas Dowling (1818-1853), an Irish-American publisher and editor who founded the newspaper The Irish World.

Other prominent individuals with the name include Michael Dowling (1876-1925), an Irish nationalist politician and member of the Irish Parliamentary Party; and Walter Dowling (1858-1942), an American architect best known for designing several notable buildings in Washington, D.C., including the National Museum of Natural History.

While the name Dowling is most closely associated with Ireland, it has since spread to other parts of the world due to emigration, particularly to the United States, Australia, and various parts of the British Empire during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Dowling

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Dowling.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Dowling was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Dowling has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Dowling was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Dowling, please contact us.

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!